Development, Assessment and Commercializaton of a Biogeochemical Profiling Float for Calibration and Validation of Ocean Color and Ocean Carbon Studies

The primary goals of this effort are to develop the technology and expertise to measure optical
properties of the upper ocean autonomously over long time scales (months to years) and to make
those observations easily accessible to researchers and the public. This will allow monitoring of
events such as phytoplankton blooms and will aid in our understanding of physical and
biogeochemical dynamics of the upper ocean.

This work will also lead to development of
alternative (and cheaper) methods to calibrate satellite ocean color observations using sensors that
can be easily deployed across a wide geographic range.

Objective

Manufacture and test ﬁve ﬂoats that will measure physical and optical quantities in the upper 2000 m of the ocean

Develop an optical package that communicates with the ﬂoat and is able to update sampling strategy using commands telemetered from shore

Determine the best sampling strategies to maximize data quality within power, data, and cost constraints

Field-test to examine robustness of the measurements (compare to satellite observations)

Develop software to transfer data efﬁciently to end users

Develop software to link with NASA remote sensing products that will provide context for ﬂoat measurements

We have approached this work collaboratively. Several manufacturers are involved in designing,
assembling, and integrating instruments and software (WET Labs, Satlantic, Teledyne Webb,
CLS America). Some of the instruments are nearly unmodiﬁed versions of stock instruments,
while others have required substantial modiﬁcations to meet the needs of this mission. The data
display technology and data products are also being developed collaboratively (CLS America and
NASA-Goddard). The technical work is being overseen and coordinated by the University of
Maine. All the manufacturers and developers have worked together to meet the needs of the
project within the constraints of the instruments being used.

University of Maine will be responsible for data analysis and scientiﬁc results. Data quality will be assessed using:

Stability of deep water values

Comparison of surface measurements to satellite observations

Redundancy of measurements–some particle properties can be computed from multiple instruments on the platform, and these quantities can be compared

Tests at the site of an established ocean optical observatory (e.g. BOUSSOLE)

This project has involved several individuals at each organization, principally:

In the coming year we will complete assembly of the ﬁrst two ﬂoats and perform ﬁeld tests
in the spring of 2011. Based on the outcomes of the ﬁeld tests we will evaluate sampling
strategies and construct ﬂoats three and four with appropriate modiﬁcations. We will deploy those
ﬂoats on ships of opportunity in areas of interesting ocean dynamics and optical processes. Data
processing will be a priority in the coming year. This includes data display development and
coordination with NASA satellite products will also take place in the coming year. UMaine will
work on algorithms to assess heat ﬂux and primary production from the observations.